A handful of pencil sketches...

Just a handful of various character pencil sketches...

Sandman - overture sketch (rough)

Who am I? Robert Smith Jr, Lil' Dream of the Endless or a Young Tim Burton?

Death

Lil' Death of the Endless

Batman Beyond

Substance - A Graphic Novel

I've been brushing up on my drawing skills and experimenting with a few different techniques over the last month or so. This is all in preparation for two projects; an original graphic novel which I'm currently doing the treatment for and a handful of small watercolour character pieces to sell online.

The original graphic novel tentatively titled "Substance" will be a long term project with an estimated completion date of late 2020. As the story takes place over three different time periods, I want to adopt three different illustration techniques, one for each time period, to ground the viewer in that moment. Below is a test piece for an as yet undetermined chapter title page;

Chapter Title Page

Substance is a large-scale and long-term project. It has been swimming around in the back of my mind for many years now. It is ambitious and ambiguous and that is why I have allowed such a lengthy amount of time to complete it. It tells a BIG story in a very intimate and grandiose way. It is comprised of truths and lies. It is tragedy and triumph. It is a commentary on the human spirit, perception, reality and fantasy. It is semi auto-biographic. It is an abstract distortion of my story. It is very personal and important to me.

I'll share more images and panels here at my blog as milestones are achieved in an attempt to document this journey...

Damian K. Sheiles